Apparatus for heating railway-cars



(No Model.)

J. LOFTUS.

APPARATUS FOR'HEATING RAILWAY CARS. No; 400,777. Patented Apr. 2, 1889.

Witnesse v friv'ehton JOHN L F1-us attorney.

N. PETERS. Pholu-Lilhugnphgr, Washinglun. n. c

UNITED STATES JOHN LOFTUS, OF ALBANY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHNGREENALOH,

OF EAST ALBANY, NEW YORK.

APPARATUS FOR HEATING RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,777, dated April 2,1889.

Application filed October 25, 1887.

Serial No. 253,308. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J OHN Lorrus, of the city and county of Albany, inthe State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements inApparatus for Heating Railway-Oars, of which the following is aspecification.

My invent-ion relates to improvements in apparatus for heating cars bysteam; and it consists of the apparatus herein shown and described forheating cars by steam which is preferably obtained from the boiler ofthe 10- comotive that is attached to the train, the steam being mixedwith air for the purpose of obtaining a more perfect diffusion of theheat.

One serious defect in heating railway-cars. by steam derived from aboiler at' the head of a train has been found to proceed from theabsorption of the greater part of the heat by the radiators in theleading cars of the train, thereby producing an overheating of the firstcars, while those at the rear of the train are insufficiently heated;and the object of my invention is to remedy this defect. This object Iattain by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which areherein referred to and form part of this specification, and in which-Figure l is a side elevation of my improved system of heating as appliedto two connected cars; Fig. 2, a plan View of the same; Fig. 3, anenlarged longitudinal section of the injector used for forcing air mixedwith steam into the system of heating-pipes, and Fig. 4 a like sectionof the branch fitting used for connecting the supply-pipe with theradiators.

As represented in the drawings, A indicates the flooring of arailway-car. Said car forms no part of my invention, and a moreparticular illustration of it is not considered essential; but whileonly two cars are indicated on the drawings it is obvious that myinvention can be applied to any required number of cars connectedtogether in the usual manner.

B is a supply-pipe attached to each car either below the flooring, asshown in the drawings, or above, as may be preferred. Each length ofsaid supply-pipe, which length nearly corresponds to the length of thecar,

formed under the entire length of a train, and

so that the variation of distance between the cars incident to a trainin motion will be provided for.

G-is an injector that is attached to the foremost end of the length ofthe supply-pipe B, fixed to the forward car of the train and connectedby a flexible tube, 0, to the boiler of the locomotive attached to thetrain or to an independent boiler provided for the purpose of heatingthe train. Said injector operates in the manner of one used forsupplyingwater to a steam-boiler; but in this apparatus it is used for supplyingto the system of heatingpipes air that becomes heated by comminglingwith steam from the injector. Said injector is provided with anair-inlet, c, to. which an air-supply pipe, D, is attached. The lowerend of said air-supply pipe is open to the atmosphere, so as to freelyadmit the air thereinto.

E is a branch fitting, of which there are two in the supply-pipe B ofeach car, one near each end of said pipe. Said fitting is providedat itsupper end with a T-head, which forms a continuation of the bore of saidsupply-pipe, and the vertical pipe of said fitting is provided with adiaphragm, 1', which sepa- 8o rates the supply-pipe B from a lowersystem of pipes, hereinafter described. Said diaphragm is perforated forthe purpose of equalizing the pressures in said lower system-of pipesand for a drip for the escape of Water produced by any condensation ofsteam in the supply-pipe B. The lower end of the branch fitting E formsa triple elbow, 2, having a single branch, 3, which leads in the samedirection as the supply-pipe B, and two lateral out- 0 lets at oppositesides of the vertical pipe, which run at right angles to the singlebranch 3. Said branch fittings are fixed in the supply-pipe Binsuchmanner that each will have a single branch 3 leading toward thenearest 5 end of the car, the two single branches leading in oppositedirections, as shown in Fig. 1.

A heated-air pipe, 4, is connected to each single branch 3, and saidair-pipes should be of such length that their terminals will corre- 10ospond to those of the supply-pipe B. The airpipe i which is at theforemostend of the forward car is connected in a branch, (1, of theair-supply pipe D, as shown in Fig. 1, and the other air-pipes 4 areprovided with flexible coupling-tubes 5, which couple with each otherbetween conjoining cars, or with the coupling-tube b of the supply-pipeB at the rear end of the train.

F are lateral pipes which lead from the lateral outlets of the rearmostbranch fitting E, and F like pipes which lead from the foremost branchfittings. Said lateral pipes connect with corresponding ends of theradiators G, and thereby form open communications from one branchfitting E to the other on each car through said radiators.

The operation of my apparatus is as follows: Steam from the boiler issupplied through the flexible tube 0 to the injector G, and by theoperation of the latter air is drawn into the airsupply pipe D andcommingles with the steam which enters the supply-pipe B through theinjector. The mixed steam and air is forcibly moved by the current ofsteam entering through the injector to pass directly through thesupply-pipe B from the front to the rear end of the train, as indicatedby the arrows above the supply-pipe Bin Fig. 1. On reaching the rear endof the train the mixed steam and air is conducted through the connectedflexible coupling-tubes l) and 5 into the rearmost air-pipe 3 and branchfitting E. Then passing laterally through the pipes F, it ascendsthrough the vertical pipes 6 into the radiators G. After passingcircuitously through said radiators the mixed steam and air descendsthrough the vertical pipes 7, and then passing toward the center line ofthe car, through the pipes F, it enters the foremost branch fitting E,from which it passes through the connected coupling-tubes 5 into thenext car forward; and then, after passing, in the manner just described,through the pipes and radiators of the various cars that form the train,the heated mixture of steam and air enters the air-supply pipe D, andafter being separated from the water of condensation, which escapes byits gravity out of the open lower end of the air-supply pipe D, saidmixture is again drawn into the injector C, to be again forced throughthe system of pipes in the manner above described. This circulation ofthe mixed steam and air is carried on continuously as long as steamcontinues to flow into the injector.

I claim as my invention 1. In an apparatus forheat-ing railway-cars bymeans of mixed steam and air, the combination of a steam injector thatis connected with a steam'supply, and is provided with an air-inlet, aconducting-pipe for conveying the commingled steam and air from saidinjector directly to the rearniost end of the train without passing thesame through the radiators, said conducting-pipe being provided on eachcar with branch fittings which do not break the continuity of theopening through said pipe nor divert the direct current of steam and airinto the radiators, said branch fittings having, just below their T-heads a perforated diaphragm, and at their lower end a triple elbow, alower system of pipes which is connected at the rearmost end of thetrain to said conducting-pipe, and by which the steam and air isreturned toward the foremost end of the train and into the in: j ector,the direct continuity of said lower system of pipes being broken betweenthe branch fittings under each car, and lateral pipes leading from thelower end of each branch fitting and connecting with the radiatorswithin the cars, as and for the purpose herein specified.

2. The valveless branch fitting E, consisting of a body-piece having atits upper end a -T- head and at its lower end a triple elbow, the singlebranch of the latter ranging in line with the T-head, and theoppositely-located lateral branches thereof ranging at right angles tosaid T-head, said body-piece having within it and just below the openingthrough said T-hcad a perforated diaphragm, as and for the purposeherein specified.

JOHN LOFTUS.

Vitnesses:

WM. Ii. Low, Jot-IN GREENALCH.

